Sp101, What can I expect from a trigger job?

This is a discussion on Sp101, What can I expect from a trigger job? within the Ruger Double Action forums, part of the Pistol & Revolver Forum category; Okay so I have a 2 1/4 ruger sp101 .357, I want to use the gun a my conceal carry weapon. I've decided that the ...

Okay so I have a 2 1/4 ruger sp101 .357, I want to use the gun a my conceal carry weapon. I've decided that the 12lb trigger pull is not great though for a acurate draw and squaze gun over 10 yards and i would like to lighten the pull up. I've done some reasearch and from what I've been reading anything below a 8lb pull reduces the guns over all relability when it comes to ignighting primer with the hammer.(is this true?) Secondly Ive decided my best chances of getting the gun to where i want it is a trigger job(smoth and polish the mechanicals if im not mistaken, my local gander mountain offers this for 120 plus tax). Then TRIGGERSHIMS tm. and a set of Wolff Gunsprings tm. to get the gun dialed in to exactly what I want my question is is any of this redundent or not needed or have I succeded in putting together a good set up for my future ccw. And what can I expect from my D/A pull after all this?
thank you.

I ALWAYS leave the stock springs in any gun I use for concealed carry or home defense. You want all the primer popping power you can get if God forbid you ever need to use it for anything serious. Going lighter with springs transfers less power to the firing pin, not something you want for a defensive gun.

IMO don't mess with trigger jobs or lighter springs for a defensive gun.

All an action polish/trigger job does is make the gun as slick as it will be after a few thousand cycles. I have a GP100 that is well used, never had an action job and it's as slick as any Colt or S&W. It's just that the parts have broken in to each other. Save the $120 for the action job and spend it on ammo, go the range and shoot the gun.

Plus you don't know who is doing the work, you could have some guy at Gander Mt. who mostly works in the shoe dept. who doesn't know what he is doing mess the gun up. I tried to trade a Glock 17 into a Gander Mt. and the guys behind the counter could hardly break the gun down to inspect it, maybe these are the guys doing the "gunsmithing" too.......also like Cabelas, who claims they "safety inspect" every used gun, I bought a used Hi Power there that had a hammer with a worn out sear (probably from a bad trigger job) that slipped off of full cock and would have AD'd the gun if I didn't catch the issue, NOT very safe! I guess that one slipped by.

After even a few hundred dry fire or live rounds that SP will feel slicker.

Also IMO shims have no place on a CC gun, it's just something else that gives the gun that .1% chance of binding up and failing when you need it.

The odds are overwhelmingly low of ever having to use your CC gun at ranges farther than 7-10 yards, so don't worry too much about being able to shoot in DA at 25+ yards.

I would suggest that you find a cartridge that you want to carry, say a 158 grain gold dot in .357 or the 135 grain gold dot 38 special +p. Then find an equivalent "affordable" cartridge (same weight, muzzle velocity).

Then run 800 to a thousand rounds of that affordable cartridge through your stock revolver, working on double action trigger control, shot placement, and follow up shots.

Then sit down and think about what, if anything, is limiting your progress that could be solved with a trigger job or Wolf springs, or shims.

Grant Cunningham's book "Gun Digest Book of the Revolver" is an excellent resource on all things revolver. He's a gunsmith and a shooter.

A smooth and polish would work wonders or, a sufficient amount of target fire would also. I would not go below 10lb springs for reliability. Increase your skills with stock springs rather than reduce spring power. Especially when the firearm is for self defense.

I have the same gun as you and also use it for one of my concealed carry guns. Twelve pounds was a bit much. I sent mine to Teddy of Actions By T for an action job. He addresses the entire workings of the gun and brought the DA pull down to around 8 pounds without affecting the reliability of my gun. He changed the springs out with his own custom made chrome silicon springs and it is as smooth as glass. There are a number of different ways to get a smoother/lighter trigger and if you are going to have someone do a "trigger job" , you want it to be someone who knows what they are doing. I think the exact description of what Teddy did to my gun is called the "Complete Action Job-Street Reliability Package". Thats my 2 cents.

I will second Kevfin as have a SP101 tuned by Teddy. My DA came out a little higher around 9 lbs but I don't know what spring he used and this was done a
number of years ago (8?). I put in a 9 lb Wolff spring and DA was 8.4 lbs using my Chatillon gauge from Brownell's. With a 10 lb Wolff DA is about 9 and it is
what I have in now. I have tried it with all sorts of primers and ammo and no misfires. With shims it probably would be a bit better. Years ago there was
an article by Mike Detty in Combat Handguns on a SP101 tuned by All Custom Firearms in Arizona which I think is now out of business. It had a double
action of 7.8 lbs but he got some misfires on magnum ammo. From what I can gather, on almost any brand of small frame due to less mechanical advantage
8 lbs is about all any can be reduced to. From past experience with a Colt Magnum Carry small frame I got misfires around 8.5 lbs. Aside from pull weight it
is smoothness of action that the tuning gives you. At the time Teddy also offered preferential treatment for those sending cash; don't know about now.

I have the same type SP101 for my EDC. I installed trigger & hammer shims (from TriggerShims.com) and a Wolff spring kit. DA is about 10lb. and smooth. Lance at TriggerShims has excellent installation videos.

I too would srongly suggest that yoy leave the factory springs in your 101 and just shoot the hell out of it along with lots of dry firing. I have the SP101 with the same barrel as yours and hammer less. I actually thought that the out of the box action was kind of nice for a snubby. It has since lightened up, or smoothed out a bit to where my wife even likes it and she is small and petite with small fingers. If you're going to primarily carry that SP101 for self defense I'd leave it alone action wise. You don't want to give an attorney any meat to go on in challenging your self defense shooting.. You want a nice slick action for targets and/or hunting, go for it, but leave the protector gun alone. Just concentrate on lots of range time and get used to using carry ammo.

Secondly Ive decided my best chances of getting the gun to where i want it is a trigger job(smooth and polish the mechanicals if im not mistaken, my local gander mountain offers this for 120 plus tax).

If you never pull guns apart, take it to Gander Mountain. I would avoid the 8lb spring, especially if you use one of the harder primers. I polished and shimmed my trigger, and the parts in the trigger return bore. If you shoot a couple boxes of .38, both single and double action, you will see where things bind or drag, and you can polish the surfaces to reduce friction.

The trigger assembly on the SP101 and GP100 is simple, sturdy, and easy to work on. The Wolf kits, and others, will reduce the amount of effort needed to cycle the action, and polishing the contact surfaces can make everything smoother, but not a lot lighter. Unless you really know how things work, don't attempt to reduce travel.

All in all, the best feature on any Ruger, is it's simple to maintain, or work on. If you know what you are doing. If you don't, let a gunsmith take it on, it's what the guys that carry for a living do.